What supernatural YA books did you put on your reading list this week? Here’s a short and sweet post of novels with paranormal romance, horror, complicated relationships, and stories that show us in a million different ways how a bad situation that couldn’t possibly get worse manages to prove everyone wrong.
In supernatural YA books, you’ll come across the term “PNR” a lot. What does PNR mean in books? It stands for “Paranormal Romance.” It’s a subgenre of fantasy, often set in our ordinary world, that combines elements of supernatural and romance. In PNR, you’ll normally find supernatural characters such as werewolves (or other shifters), fae, vampires, and witches.
Paranormal Romance differs from Fantasy Romance in that the latter is often set in a different world that works differently (as in laws-of-physics-differently) than our own. In contrast, PNR is typically set on good ol’ Planet Earth. As in many subgenres of fantasy, these can overlap and do blur sometimes. Okay, maybe more than sometimes. For example, you might find a romance novel with shifters set in another world. However, readers still consider it PNR due to the overall feel of the story.
While not all of the books below fall into the paranormal romance category, I’ve grouped the ones that do. You’ll also find that Your Blood, My Bones, while it definitely fits PNR, is also considered a horror novel.
This post is about supernatural YA books.
Supernatural YA Books
Readers love supernatural YA books because they’re full of creatures, mystic powers, magic systems, and atmospheric settings. Not only that, but the authors seamlessly blend these exciting elements with the oh-so-exquisite agony of adolescence and the torment it brings, coupled with unlimited energy and the ability to run on two hours of sleep. But I digress! You’ll love this list and will have a hard time putting down any one of the books below.
Paranormal Romance
First up, the paranormal romance YA books I promised you. Red Rose Academy: Year One by M. Guida follows Rose Allen, a half-vampire who escapes her abusive father by enrolling at a mysterious academy in New Orleans, where she uncovers hidden powers, becomes entangled in a love triangle, and fights to change a society where vampire women are oppressed. Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast is about Wren Nightingale, who unexpectedly finds that she has Moon-magick on her eighteenth birthday, is sent to a mysterious magical academy, and must navigate dangerous secrets, trials, and her feelings for her longtime friend Lee.
Court of Winter by Krista Street is about Ilara, a fae deemed “defective” for being wingless and magicless, who is abducted by the ruthless Crown Prince Norivun and must choose between allying with him or watching her kingdom fall into war. In Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew, Wyatt Westlock returns to her family’s farmhouse with the aim of destroying it. However, she instead finds Peter, her childhood friend. He’s bound to the land via a curse that forces him through endless ritualistic deaths. Together they must unravel dark magic, broken protections, and their own fraught bond in order to stop ancient horrors.
Red Rose Academy Year One: Paranormal Academy Romance by M Guida
From the blurb: Vampire society is dominated by men. Women are tools to be used to gain them power. Mates have always been chosen for us. But I’m going to change all of that.
Rose Allen’s life has always been steeped in darkness. Living under the thumb of her abusive father, she eagerly escapes to the prestigious Red Rose Academy, hidden in the heart of New Orleans.
The sanctuary she seeks, however, is not as secure as she’d hoped. At Red Rose, old grudges run deep, and the academy’s rules bind her as tightly as her father’s chains. As Rose delves deeper into her unique abilities, the line between friend and enemy blurs, and her world shifts in ways she never imagined possible.
Caught in a dangerous web of secrets and lies, Rose becomes entangled with two men who couldn’t be more different. Will Valentin and Rocco be her salvation or her downfall?
Draw Down the Moon (Moonstruck Book 1) by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
From the blurb: A mystical school. A mysterious death. A magickal romance… Wren Nightingale isn’t supposed to have any elemental powers. Born of magickal parents but not under one of the four fated astrological full moons, she is destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren’s life is turned upside down, and she’s suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna—a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast.
Lee Young has always known about his future at the academy. He has three goals: pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family’s reputation. But he wasn’t expecting to be attending alongside the girl he’s been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember.
As Wren and Lee are thrown into the academy’s grueling trials, they quickly learn there’s something different—and dangerous—about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies… and murder. And Lee will have to decide what to protect: his family’s legacy, or the girl he loves.
Court of Winter (Fae of Snow & Ice Book 1) by Krista Street
From the blurb: When Ilara’s abducted by the hated crown prince, she’s faced with an impossible choice—enslavement to her nemesis or war for the kingdom.
Being a defective marks me in the eyes of the Solis Fae. Wingless. Magicless. Weak. To my kind, I’m nothing—not when strength is needed to survive the perpetual snow and ice that shrouds our northern continent in endless winter.
But I’ve persevered, living a meaningful yet simple life with my sister. Until the hated Crown Prince of the Winter Court thunders into our village. Prince Norivun’s massive black wings and potent magic cloud my senses and steal my breath. He’s beautiful yet brutal, so when he whisks me away and locks me in his castle, I’m certain my death is tomorrow’s promise.
Yet my end doesn’t come, not when the prince looks at me with hunger in his gaze while revealing the true reason for my abduction. Now I’m faced with an impossible choice—either join forces with the hated prince who’s robbed me of everything I love or watch our kingdom start a devastating war.
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
From the blurb: Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she’s just inherited—to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement—Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead.
Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family’s property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can’t really live, either. Not while he’s bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths. There’s only one way for him to break free. He needs to end the Westlock line. He needs to kill Wyatt.
With Wyatt’s parents gone, the spells protecting the property have begun to unravel, and dark, ancient forces gather in the nearby forest. The only way for Wyatt to repair the wards is to work with Peter—the one person who knows how to harness her volatile magic. But how can she trust a boy who’s sworn an oath to destroy her? When the past turns up to haunt them in the most unexpected way, they are forced to rely on one another to survive, or else tear each other apart.
Fantasy Books and Ghost Stories
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is one of the most popular paranormal young adult books right now. It’s about a teen, Bree Matthews, who enrolls at UNC-Chapel Hill after her mother’s death. She soon discovers a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights, unlocks her own magical legacy, and confronts both supernatural threats and the hidden truths of her past.
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is about 15-year-old Chloe Saunders, who begins seeing ghosts, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and sent to a group home for troubled teens. There, she finds out that she and her housemates have real supernatural powers and that the home hides dark secrets.
Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle) by Tracy Deonn
From the blurb: After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so-called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.
The Summoning (Book 1 of the Darkest Powers Series) by Kelley Armstrong
From the blurb: All Chloe Saunders wants is a life like any normal teenager—the chance to get through school, make friends, and maybe meet a boy. But when she starts seeing ghosts, she knows that life will never be normal again. Soon, ghosts are everywhere, demanding her attention.
When Chloe finally breaks down, she’s admitted to a group home for disturbed kids. At first, Lyle House seems okay, but as she gets to know the other patients—charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek; obnoxious Tori; and Rae, who has a ‘thing’ for fire—Chloe begins to realise that something strange and sinister binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual ‘problem kid’ behaviour. And they’re about to discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home, either…
Supernatural YA Books Set in a Boarding School
And finally, I give you the supernatural YA books set in academies. Demigods Academy by Elisa S. Amore gives us the spicy protagonist, Melany Richmond, an orphan rebel. After she steals a Shadowbox meant for someone else on her eighteenth birthday, someone forces her into a secret academy for demigods. Now, Melany must hide her lie or risk divine punishment.
Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie is about six students at Blackwood Academy. Not just any boarding school, as this one’s in purgatory! The students must compete in deadly trials during the Decennial to escape their fate. They may remain trapped shepherding souls forever, or take their chances with the Other Side.
Demigods Academy (Demigods Academy Series Book 1) by Elisa S. Amore and Kiera Legend
Harry Potter meets Percy Jackson… On their eighteenth birthday, everyone receives a Shadowbox—a magical gift from the gods. Most find nothing but a simple birthday message inside. But for a chosen few, the Shadowbox holds something far more powerful.
No one knows what’s inside these special boxes. No one sees those who receive them ever again. Some say they’re recruited into the Gods’ Army. Others think it’s just a myth. I never expected to find out the truth.
My name is Melany Richmond, an orphan, a troublemaker, a blue-haired rebel who doesn’t believe in fate or gods. I never even got a Shadowbox—maybe because no one knows my real birthday, or maybe because the gods don’t care about someone like me. But Callie Demos? She’s the golden girl. Beautiful, privileged, and worshipped. She was meant to receive something extraordinary on her birthday. Until I stole it.
The moment I opened her Shadowbox, my world flipped upside down. Gods are real. Their academy is real. And now, thanks to one reckless mistake, I’m the one who’s been summoned to train among their chosen recruits. If they discover I don’t belong, I won’t just be expelled—I’ll be punished by the gods themselves.
Immortal Consequences (The Souls of Blackwood Academy 1) by I.V. Marie
Six rivals. One victor. Eternity is only the beginning. Six students compete to change their fate at a darkly enchanted boarding school in purgatory where graduation is the only escape—and love can cross the boundaries between life and death.
Welcome to Blackwood Academy: the legendary school located on the fringes of the afterlife. Once a pupil enters the academy’s arched gates, there is no way out… except the Decennial, a cut-throat magical competition with only one victor.
This year, six of the Academy’s top students have been chosen to face the Decennial’s tests. Two academic archrivals, whose strange connection blurs the lines between obsession and hate. One girl driven solely by ambition, and another plagued by memories of the love she lost. And a charming playboy who never cared for anyone—until he met the academy’s newest student. But what none of them know? They aren’t the only ones playing Blackwood’s game. Who will win, and who will fall? Only one thing is for certain: in this game, some fates are worse than death.
This post was about supernatural YA books.
What are some good fantasy books for 13 year olds? Here’s a list of books set in Wales written for readers of that age.
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